Graduate Programs

Individuals and families today bear an ever-growing responsibility for achieving and sustaining economic stability across their life. Never has there been a greater need for well-trained professionals to help individuals and families make informed and effective decisions and evaluate and recommend the public policies that influence the economic opportunity and future of individuals and families.

Graduate students have the opportunity to work closely with award winning department faculty who are widely recognized professionals in the fields of financial management, as well as family and consumer economic theory. Faculty research interests cover a broad spectrum of financial and economic issues, including, but not limited to, consumer behavior and expenditure patterns, funding higher education, risk tolerance and investment behavior, retirement and health care financing, labor supply and household production, economic policy analysis, consumer credit use, financial literacy, and poverty.

Graduate coursework in Personal Financial Planning at the University of Missouri analyzes household and consumer economic conditions and behavior, economic and social policy and the interrelationships among these elements. Students' programs of study can be custom designed to develop professional competencies and interests. We offer several resident and online degree program options, some of which are registered with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., allowing students to sit for the national Certified Financial Planner™ exam, which is a step toward earning right to use the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) designation. Graduate research and teaching assistantships are available on a competitive basis.